The main development for me this week has been a significant shift in my understanding of discussions in the forum rather than just answering questions as the students are doing at the moment.
One student included in his blog an observation made by another student which of course could be the start of discussions amongst the students.
I have challenged the students to use this student's blog as an example for this week's postings. I will also pick up the challenge.
We decided to discontinue face to face tutorials sessions because of a few factors, OHS issues, student preferences and a realisation on my part that this learning methodology is counter productive to e-learning principles.
Cheryl has suggested training in forum discussions which will greatly benefit the development of the program. Cheryl is pursuing training options for us.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
More ideas for e learning
Had a terrific meeting with Claire, Cheryl and Jeff Mee on Friday. As the student counsellor Jeff agreed to develop a scenario around Duty of Care which Claire will video. I will develop some scenarios to be filmed at Anglicare and Bower Place. Confidentiality will be one of the areas to be explored. Cheryl has offered to explore how webquest can be used. Advocacy may be a topic to be explored.
Suggested ethical game with appropriate activity to go with it. I have emailed a powerpoint presentation to Claire so that she can think about links to the topics covered in the presentation. With Claire or Cheryl's guidance I will speak to this powerpoint.
I used one of Cheryl's videos successfuly the other day and shall talk to the students regarding their access to these excellent videos.
Suggested ethical game with appropriate activity to go with it. I have emailed a powerpoint presentation to Claire so that she can think about links to the topics covered in the presentation. With Claire or Cheryl's guidance I will speak to this powerpoint.
I used one of Cheryl's videos successfuly the other day and shall talk to the students regarding their access to these excellent videos.
Friday, August 22, 2008
End of week 1 at Bower Place
Overall a good week, apart from a few teething problems which of course is to be expected. The students are so excited to be at Bower Place, everyone was very keen and a lot of students turned up on Monday. It was maybe a bit disappointing for them there were no clients but Marten organised DVDs and exercises for the students in observation so I think that was very valuable for those that were there.
My week has been full on with students on the Moodle keeping track of what everyone is doing and problem solving. Still lots of activity from students and still lots of interaction on the forums with students answering each other's questions. People are starting to blog and I have collated a list of emails so students can "invite" readers as a way to keep their blogs private.
Wednesday afternoon, I only had 3 students in the computer room wanting help. I don't think this was necessarily a reflection of all who needed help but I had to laugh when a couple of students said Wednesday lunchtime after we had all been to the tutorial together that they would leave coming to see me until another day because I looked so tired. :-)
Today we had lots of students in the computer room including three who still hadn't got onto Moodle so that was fantastic to know at the end of the day everyone was in. I pointed a number of students to the videos I had created as I couldn't help all of them at the same time so I was very glad I had done those. I was surprised more students hadn't looked at them but my observation today would have been most were just looking for the instant answer to their questions or someone to show them what to do. I did get some positive feedback about the videos once they saw one or two so hopefully they will go there for help when I am not available.
The forum for the competency "Utilise specialist communication skills" was opened on Sunday and at the time of writing this had 77 posts. This is where students are answering activities. I was very pleased to see how quickly they started this task and how quickly they are posting answers.
So, to sum up, I think it was a good week with lots of positive outcomes and continued improvement by the students with the technology.
My week has been full on with students on the Moodle keeping track of what everyone is doing and problem solving. Still lots of activity from students and still lots of interaction on the forums with students answering each other's questions. People are starting to blog and I have collated a list of emails so students can "invite" readers as a way to keep their blogs private.
Wednesday afternoon, I only had 3 students in the computer room wanting help. I don't think this was necessarily a reflection of all who needed help but I had to laugh when a couple of students said Wednesday lunchtime after we had all been to the tutorial together that they would leave coming to see me until another day because I looked so tired. :-)
Today we had lots of students in the computer room including three who still hadn't got onto Moodle so that was fantastic to know at the end of the day everyone was in. I pointed a number of students to the videos I had created as I couldn't help all of them at the same time so I was very glad I had done those. I was surprised more students hadn't looked at them but my observation today would have been most were just looking for the instant answer to their questions or someone to show them what to do. I did get some positive feedback about the videos once they saw one or two so hopefully they will go there for help when I am not available.
The forum for the competency "Utilise specialist communication skills" was opened on Sunday and at the time of writing this had 77 posts. This is where students are answering activities. I was very pleased to see how quickly they started this task and how quickly they are posting answers.
So, to sum up, I think it was a good week with lots of positive outcomes and continued improvement by the students with the technology.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Code of ethics
I had a discussion with Angelica about Bower Places' policy and procedures. Angelica identified the Australian Psychological Society's standards and the Australian Association of Social Workers' Code of Ethics as the foundation for Bower Places practice. Cheryl and I talked about ways of incorporating these standards into an on line experience for our students. Cheryl offered to explore webquest.
Cheryl and I also talked about videoing on the job scenarios at Anglicare and Bower Place. We will talk to Claire about this idea on Friday.
Cheryl and I also talked about videoing on the job scenarios at Anglicare and Bower Place. We will talk to Claire about this idea on Friday.
The 1st fortnight
The 1st two weeks has been a very successful time with the students developing relationships on line as well as in the classroom. The students have demonstrated a willingness to develop skills needed for e learning. A student suggested it would be good to have an introduction to e learning session early in the orientation fortnight and another one in the second week. I think this idea is worth considering for next time. Cheryl has worked extremely hard with the students giving technical advice as well as encouragement. I know the students have really appreciated Cheryl's time and effort. As a person knew to this way of learning I have also appreciated Cheryl's skills.
Many students are posting blogs confidently and there is a lot of on line chatter which I think has contributed to the cohesiveness of the group.
Many students are posting blogs confidently and there is a lot of on line chatter which I think has contributed to the cohesiveness of the group.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
End of orientation
How can it be that the first two weeks of classes are over already and we are off to Bower Place tomorrow!!!! I feel like I have been glued to the Moodle for two weeks prior to orientation and now it is over.
What a good two weeks it was though! Full on but I think everyone, lecturers and students included all finished up with a sense of achievement. On Friday, only 7 students had yet to log on to Moodle. Out of the seven only one had attended an elearning session and she had just forgotten her password, so I think that is pretty good considering we had 40 students(?).
I have been really impressed with the students interacting on the Moodle. I created a new student account today as part of the video tutorials I have been creating for students (see http://elearningtutorials.blogspot.com) and when I logged into the classroom for Certificate IV I could see all the postings in the last ten days which includes around 230 postings made by students:
In the elearning sessions I ran I encouraged students to post their questions to the appropriate forums and I also encouraged them to answer each others questions if they could and they have really risen to the challenge.
I truly believe the orientation sessions are so important, especially to get them excited and really keep reinforcing the notion of community!!!
We are also using blogs for online journals and I think most students have created them. We have had some issues with privacy and I will collate a list of students email addresses and then everyone can invite each other to read their blog and set their blog up to be invited readers only. In hindsight I would do more investigation on privacy - I hadn't anticipated students having so many issues with other people outside of the class reading their blogs.
I am hoping the videos I have created at http://elearningtutorials.blogspot.com will help everyone with the blogs and the moodle. I will keep creating these as we go along with the aim of having a complete set of them for the students next time around. I also have handouts for some tasks and they are on this site as well.
I really would have like longer for the elearning orientation sessions (moodle and blogs) - I was meant to have a full day with all students but only ended up with 3 hours as we couldn't get computer suites all day!!! Students also stated they would have liked longer. It would have been handy to have some time in the second week also to troubleshoot problems.
There was only a small number of students who didn't have basic computing skills. In retrospect it would be good to be able to identify these students and get them some assistance prior to the orientation sessions. Although these students will have access to me in Bower Place on Wednesday afternoons and all day Friday from tomorrow it would have been good to alleviate some of their stress before the orientation sessions - I worry they will be behind the eight ball now. Though having said that, other students have been really helpful and I have been on the Moodle answering any queries every night and weekends so they haven't gone unassisted.
Overall though, I am very pleased with the outcomes from the last two weeks and can't wait to see what happens next! :-)
What a good two weeks it was though! Full on but I think everyone, lecturers and students included all finished up with a sense of achievement. On Friday, only 7 students had yet to log on to Moodle. Out of the seven only one had attended an elearning session and she had just forgotten her password, so I think that is pretty good considering we had 40 students(?).
I have been really impressed with the students interacting on the Moodle. I created a new student account today as part of the video tutorials I have been creating for students (see http://elearningtutorials.blogspot.com) and when I logged into the classroom for Certificate IV I could see all the postings in the last ten days which includes around 230 postings made by students:
In the elearning sessions I ran I encouraged students to post their questions to the appropriate forums and I also encouraged them to answer each others questions if they could and they have really risen to the challenge.
I truly believe the orientation sessions are so important, especially to get them excited and really keep reinforcing the notion of community!!!
We are also using blogs for online journals and I think most students have created them. We have had some issues with privacy and I will collate a list of students email addresses and then everyone can invite each other to read their blog and set their blog up to be invited readers only. In hindsight I would do more investigation on privacy - I hadn't anticipated students having so many issues with other people outside of the class reading their blogs.
I am hoping the videos I have created at http://elearningtutorials.blogspot.com will help everyone with the blogs and the moodle. I will keep creating these as we go along with the aim of having a complete set of them for the students next time around. I also have handouts for some tasks and they are on this site as well.
I really would have like longer for the elearning orientation sessions (moodle and blogs) - I was meant to have a full day with all students but only ended up with 3 hours as we couldn't get computer suites all day!!! Students also stated they would have liked longer. It would have been handy to have some time in the second week also to troubleshoot problems.
There was only a small number of students who didn't have basic computing skills. In retrospect it would be good to be able to identify these students and get them some assistance prior to the orientation sessions. Although these students will have access to me in Bower Place on Wednesday afternoons and all day Friday from tomorrow it would have been good to alleviate some of their stress before the orientation sessions - I worry they will be behind the eight ball now. Though having said that, other students have been really helpful and I have been on the Moodle answering any queries every night and weekends so they haven't gone unassisted.
Overall though, I am very pleased with the outcomes from the last two weeks and can't wait to see what happens next! :-)
Project
Hello Cheryl & Helen,
Now that orientation has completed at TAFESA it is off to Bower Place, all the best. Don't forget I will need weekly blogs on the progress of the course please; and if you are able to capture any photo's of interesting students on placement, please do. I will keep you informed on my progress and anything else. The mid project report is due for posting this Thursday, wish me luck.
Cheers
Claire Ramsay
Now that orientation has completed at TAFESA it is off to Bower Place, all the best. Don't forget I will need weekly blogs on the progress of the course please; and if you are able to capture any photo's of interesting students on placement, please do. I will keep you informed on my progress and anything else. The mid project report is due for posting this Thursday, wish me luck.
Cheers
Claire Ramsay
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